Huff finishes his campaign with an impressive victory in China

THUMBS UP: Rob Huff was victorious in China

Published:06:30Thursday 12 October 2017

Rob Huff capped off his season in the TCR International Series in style at the new Zhejiang Circuit in China at the weekend, taking pole position and a victory during his final outing of the season with Leopard Racing WRT Team in his Volkswagen Golf.

The Newmarket-based driver showed strong pace throughout practice at the brand new Chinese circuit, and placed the Golf GTI TCR on pole position with his final run in a tight qualifying session, taking top spot ahead of his team-mate Jean-Karl Vernay.

With two races on Sunday, the second of which featured the reversed grid, a race win was theoretically more likely in the first race, but it was in Race 2 that Huff triumphed, driving from 10th to first and closing down on early race leader James Nash to score his first win of the season.

The race was contact-heavy, with tough battles as he charged through the field, particularly with the Audi of sports car regular Frédéric Vervisch and the similar Volkswagen of WestCoast Racing driver Gianni Morbidelli.

Starting on pole in the first race, a clutch issue saw the 37-year-old slip to eighth position at the start.

However, he recovered to finish in third position, claiming the final step on the podium, before following this up with a win in Race 2 to finish his campaign on a victorious note.

Huff said: “I’m hugely pleased to have my first TCR win this year, as well as have a podium and pole position all on my last weekend.

“Zhejiang’s a very tight and twisty track, and everyone said we weren’t going to be able to overtake here, but I think we’ve seen more overtaking today than we’ve ever had.

“In the first race, my brand new clutch was only on its second start and it overheated, which bogged the car down so I dropped to seventh or eighth, and I had to work my way back up.

“I think I’ve done more overtaking this season than any other, so when we get to the end of the year I’m going to have to count it all up and see if that’s a record.

“To win my last race is a perfect way to end the season, and I need to say a huge thanks to the Leopard WRT team for welcoming me and letting me put my touch on their championship.”